The Combination of Zidovudine and Interferon AIpha-2B in the Treatment of Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is frequently a very aggressive malignancy with a poor survival despite aggressive multiagent chemotherapy. The combination of the antiretro-viral drug zidovudine (AZT) and interferon alpha (IFNα) has been reported to induce remissions in patients with ATL. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical response and toxicity following administration of a combination of IFNα-2b and AZT in patients with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated ATL. Eighteen patients with ATL (chronic, crisis, acute or lymphoma type) were treated with the combination of AZT (50–200 mg orally 5 times a day) and IFNα-2b (2.5–10 million units subcutaneously daily).Three patients had objective responses lasting more than one month. One patient had a clinical complete remission, lasting 21.6 months and two patients had partial remissions lasting 3.7 and 26.5 months. Six patients were not considered evaluable for response due to short and/or interrupted periods of trea...